Cress by Merissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles #3)

Cress has been held captive for seven long years on an orbiting satellite. She has a lovely view of earth from her small “bedroom” window, and the occasional sight of her home planet, Luna. Despite her ancestry, Cress avoids the sight of Luna whenever she can; as a shell, she is thought to be a traitor just by having been born and was declared to no longer be a citizen of Luna. She is a cast off, the product of Queen Levana’s cruel reign, and some not so pleasant memories come back to Cress unbidden whenever she sees the surface of what should be called home. Cress, however, has found the perfect solution to avoid seeing Luna completely: she hides under her computer desk whenever the satellite passes by the planet. Not the greatest solution, but a solution of sorts.

Despite her shell status on Luna, Cress is still of great value to the Lunars; as one of their most gifted computer hackers, she can get into any data base on earth and make all of Luna’s space ships undetectable to the earthens’ radar. Cress is a very handy tool to the Lunars, but what they couldn’t ever anticipate is that all of her time spent orbiting earth and watching earthen soap operas (don’t ask), has made her sympathetic towards the human race. With no place to really call home, Cress has deemed herself protector of the earthen rebel and cyborg, Cinder, the Lunar Queen’s most feared enemy. Cinder has the opportunity to stop Queen Levana from destroying earth and her on planet, and Cress will use all of her technological skills to aid the female cyborg in her cause. And maybe along the way, Cinder and her friends will find a way to save Cress, too.

Dreams become reality for Cress when Cinder finds a way to contact her, and offers to take Cress with them. Could this really be happening? Could she be free of this satellite prison forever in only a matter of hours? Soon the Rampion spaceship is within sight of her satellite and Thorne is coming to get her. Cress is positively giddy, just awaiting the moment when she can cast off her chains (hypothetically) and be free, but sooner than she could have ever imagined her plans for escape are thwarted, and she, as well as the dashing Captain Thorne, are trapped on the satellite, plummeting down to earth with no hope of surviving.

Cinder, Wolf, and Scarlet are all fighting for their lives as the Rampion is attacked. How could so much go wrong in such a short time? Surviving by the skin of their teeth, Cinder and part of her crew are still alive, but with Thorne gone and Scarlet captured, she would not call today’s battle a win. If Cinder can’t even protect her own crew, how can she save Luna and earthens? Is she just kidding herself, or can she become strong enough to make her friends’ sacrifices worthwhile? Can Cinder and what remains of her crew take down Queen Levana, or are they destined for failure?

All I can say is…WONDERFUL! I am so happy this pre-order worked out. Me and my sister have been waiting forever for “Cress” to come out, and it was so exciting to get it in the mail, looking all pretty and such.

I think it is my favorite cover for the month of February. Besides the cover being amazing, the book itself is fantastic and so enjoyable to read. It is light and fluffy while still being substantial, and I just love that about this series. Nothing is too crazy and serious, but it isn’t mindless either. Another reason why I loved this book so much was the characters.

Captain Carswell Thorne is flippin’ fantastic. He is such a great, and massively entertaining, character. Granted, he may not be the most upstanding guy, but he seems to have a good heart, and he is quite funny. He actually reminds me a lot of Captain Hook on “Once Upon a Time” and Flynn Rider from “Tangled”; those two might be the reason why I love him so much. They are all just so cheeky, charming, and awesome that I can’t get enough of them! I have kept watching “Once Upon a Time” for no reason but Hook, “Tangled” because it’s “Tangled”, and I will keep reading “The Lunar Chronicles” because of Thorne and Thorne alone.

Thorne deals with some pretty big issues in this book, but I never felt like he lost his Thorne-ness. I feel that some authors create too many problems, sometimes, for a character and then nothing gets resolved and you end up losing the character along the way; change and growth are good (I look forward to it in books), but when the character(s) becomes compromised and they’re no longer them, that’s when I feel like an author has taken it too far. To make a long story short, Marissa Meyer kept the integrity of each of her characters while still making them move forward, for a lack of better words. I felt quite satisfied at the end of “Cress” with the direction Marissa was taking Carswell as a character, and as long as he gets to keeps his funny, cheeky, charm, I’m cool with the growth and changes she may have in store for him.

Cinder was also a really good character. I felt that she wasn’t SUPER present in “Scarlet” and that I didn’t really get to know her all that well (I haven’t yet read “Cinder.” Oops!). However, in “Cress” she really came out as a strong lead character despite the fact that the title is another girl’s name. I really enjoyed her perspective and seeing how she navigated her newfound abilities. Cinder had to decide whether she would use her powers (which can be harmful to those she imposes them upon), or if she should decide not to use them even if it will stop Levana from hurting others? Cinder goes through a lot of ups and downs in “Cress”, and it was interesting to see her inner struggle between right and wrong, and what makes us different from those who terrorize others. I am looking forward to seeing her grow and become even stronger, while still keeping her conscience and humanity, because those are the things that make her a better person than Levana to lead.

Cress will be my last character to write on (the others are more in the background, and don’t have a huge effect on the overall plot). Cress is a cute character. She’s a smart computer girl with a penchant for daydreaming, and those daydreams tend to include Captain Thorne. I felt that she was a cute character, but I wasn’t particularly endeared to her in any which way. I didn’t at all mind being inside her head, but she doesn’t quite have Cinder’s inner struggle or Scarlet’s spunk, so I wasn’t passionate about Cress, but I also wasn’t dispassionate about her. I am looking forward to, though, “Winter” because I really want to see her mature and become a strong female character that can hold her own.

Okay, so overall, “Cress” is a fantastic book. It is a lighter read, with an interesting and well thought out plot, and a kick butt crew of characters to back it all up; there are quite a few characters to choose from, so you are bound to find at least one you can follow around in this series. I had so much fun getting to know all these characters and I can’t wait to see what Marissa Meyer does next, and I believe this author totally succeeded in what she was attempting to do. Wonderful job!